Alumni, students from Japan are safe

March 15, 2011Duke Law News

Alumni and students in and with ties to Japan are reporting that they and their families are safe after a disastrous earthquake and tsunami struck northern Japan Friday.

“We are following with concern the news of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan,” said Assistant Dean Jennifer Maher, who oversees Duke Law School’s international LLM program. “Our thoughts and prayers are with our students and alumni as they and their families begin to recover from this disaster.”

All Japanese alumni were contacted by the Law School on Friday. Those who live and work in Tokyo reported feeling the very strong shake of the earthquake; many had to walk hours to get home from work after train service was brought to a halt.

Many administrators and alumni were especially worried about Duke Law graduate Masaya Tsuda LLM’08, who lives in Sendai, a region particularly hard hit by the tsunami. One of his classmates wrote that he had exchanged information with Tsuda on Facebook after the disaster struck, and that “Duke alumni all over the world are very happy to know that Masaya is OK. Japanese people must overcome this disaster with a very strong will and a clear vision toward bright future, and I believe we can.”

Duke University is providing support to students and alumni affected by the disaster in Japan. Click here for more information.